


Daughters

by GlassRain



Series: Mothers & Daughters AU [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Domestic Violence, F/F, Family Fluff, Fpreg, Mother-Daughter Relationship, My First Work in This Fandom, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-12 13:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5668108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlassRain/pseuds/GlassRain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AUs where the Gems are human, and their fusions are their daughters.</p><p>One standalone ficlet for each f/f couple, posted (mostly) in the order in which the fusions were introduced. Some angst. Lots of fluff and family love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Garnet

**Author's Note:**

> Content notes:  
> \--minor spoilers for s02e22 The Answer in "Garnet"  
> \--implied domestic abuse in "Malachite"  
> \--references to past character deaths

"Got another person assuming I was the 'dad' today," said Ruby, lifting the baby out of her star-patterned stroller.

Sapphire, on the couch and surrounded by work, didn't look up from her papers. "You didn't punch this one, did you, honey?"

Little Garnet was obviously theirs -- even strangers on the street could tell -- with Sapphire's eyes and Ruby's nose, and a complexion right between the shades of their skin. Less obvious, apparently, was the fact that Ruby had handled the pregnancy. The aforementioned strangers kept giving Sapphire "congratulations" along the lines of "Maybe the wife can bench-press more than you, but you sure have proved how strong you are, huh?"

"The only smacking that happened was this kind." Ruby shifted Garnet into the crook of one arm, and slapped the curved fabric of her bike shorts with her free hand. "I told him, are you kidding? You see this pelvis? Why would I make my tiny little wife carry a whole baby when I'm the one with the hips for it?"

Garnet giggled at the sound, so Ruby did it again, a sharp smack against the taut muscle of her thigh. The baby shrieked with delight. Sapphire hmmmm'd. She sounded . . . less delighted.

"Not that you aren't strong in other ways!" blurted Ruby. "That's not what I meant!"

"I know, sweetie." Sapphire moved aside a pile of paperwork, and patted the newly-cleared space beside her. "Bring her over here."

"If anyone ever said that, I _would_ punch them," added Ruby, joining her wife and handing over Garnet for some quality time bouncing on Blue Mom's knee. "And tell them . . . um, how much should I tell them?"

Sapphire's family was famous enough that it wasn't a secret, how she had been disowned and disinherited for running off with one of the hired security team. And Ruby wasn't ashamed to admit that Sapphire was the smart one in the couple. Still, maybe that kind of stuff didn't need to get yelled about to strangers in the street.

"You don't need to tell them a thing," said Sapphire, popping off Garnet's hat to noodle with the dark fluff covering her scalp. "I know better, and so do you, and that's what matters."

She was probably right. She'd been right about everything else so far -- from the fact that they would do okay on their own without Sapphire's family riches to fall back on, to the fact that Garnet's pale newborn hair would start coming in darker as she got older. And Ruby always seemed to end up happy with the things Sapphire had predicted.

Even if she _did_ already kinda miss the days when her daughter had cotton-candy hair.


	2. Opal

When Amethyst and her daughter got home from archery practice, they could hear Pearl in the kitchen, singing. And crying.

"Tell you what, kiddo," said Amethyst, with a hearty guffaw to demonstrate that nothing was wrong. "You go on up to your room and play, a'ight? I'll put your bow and stuff away."

Pearl had always had days like this -- starting way before Amethyst had even met her, let alone reproduced with her. The sadness would come, and she would deal with it, and, eventually, it would pass. They never tried to hide it from Opal, just presented it as normal behavior for certain mothers, and the girl had grown up accepting it without concern.

Until today, apparently. As Opal handed her gear to Amethyst, her eyes were fixed on the light from the kitchen. "How come Mom does that, anyway?"

"Eh, who knows. It's just Pearl being Pearl." Amethyst shrugged, then used a pat on the back to subtly push Opal towards the stairs. "Off you go! One of us will call when it's dinnertime."

Opal, obediently, went to her room. She put on some music. She refilled the seed tray in her bird's cage. She played with her favorite toy drill set.

Neither mom called her back down.

Instead, there was a knock on her door.

"Hi, sweetie," said Pearl. She looked like she had recovered, mostly, except for some redness in her eyes. "Amethyst said you were asking about things . . . ?"

Opal flexed her arms in a ballet stretch, to give them something to do. "I just wondered why you cry like that sometimes."

"Well. I promised myself that, when you got old enough to ask, I would tell you." Pearl didn't have to worry about what to do with her hands; she was holding a scrapbook, fingers tapping against the worn leather cover. "Have they taught you about the war at all, in school? The one I fought in?"

"Uh-huh," said Opal, even though her understanding was pretty vague, and most of it was actually from TV. "I know we won. And that's good, right? Because it means . . . we got . . . more freedom?"

"Something like that. Sit down."

There were a lot of details that were too much for a little child -- too sad, too violent, too complicated. Some of those details, Pearl hadn't even talked about with her own wife. Amethyst tried to be supportive, and for the most part she was wonderful, but she had been just a kid herself when the war ended. Some things you couldn't understand unless you'd been there.

Opal sat on the fluffy lavender carpet, nervous and curious. Ready to understand as much as she could. Ready to hear the basics.

Pearl took a seat next to her and opened the scrapbook. "Let me show you what it was like when I joined the war."


	3. Sugilite

The first thing Sugi did at the little beach house, while her mothers were stocking the fridge (Amethyst) and trying to find the wi-fi password (Garnet), was yank the tablecloth off the kitchen table. Amethyst yelped in undisguised shock, alerting Garnet just in time to execute her best ninja leap and rescue both centerpieces before they smash against the tiles.

The toddler laughed and clapped at the athletic display. Garnet basked a little in the attention. The place was a rental, so it _was_ pretty impressive.

"Hey, don't encourage her," complained Amethyst, scooping up Sugilite to block her from causing any more destruction."

"She gets this from your side, you know," pointed out Garnet.

"Me? Nuh-uh! I only wreck stuff when it's fun! And, ya know, easy to replace and junk! Besides, are you gonna stand there and tell me she doesn't take after Grandma Ruby?"

She had a point. Garnet sighed. "Why don't you take her outside for a while. I'll make sure everything gets put away."

Once they got their little terror to the beach, it was easy to wear her out. All they had to do was take turns building sand castles, and sand temples, and sand communication towers, for Sugi to run around smashing. After dinner they took the subdued toddler to the boardwalk, where she fell asleep while Garnet was trying to rack up a championship-breaking run in Meat Beat Madness. A yawning Amethyst finally convinced her it was time to go home.

"Maybe I do get carried away sometimes," admitted Garnet as they stumbled up the walk.

"Yeah, and you show off," said Amethyst, as they tucked Sugilite under the covers of the child-size bed. "She likes making you jump into action to fix stuff . . . although I guess I'm the one who made her think it was hilarious to smash stuff."

"We should both try to encourage her less." Garnet wrapped up her hair and settled into the double bed.

Amethyst flopped down next to her. "Uh-huh. Probably get in less trouble in preschool if she learns how to rein it in a little."

"But then, there are times when smashing things is a valuable skill."

Amethyst snorted. "Maybe if she grows up to be a Whacker Man champion."

Garnet could think of even more practical applications.

The next day, they went crabbing off the end of the dock. Sugilite was mesmerized when Garnet, wearing heavy leather gloves, drew the cage out of the water to reveal a dozen confused blue-shelled crabs. Garnet even let her play with a few (well-gloved herself, and under the careful supervision of both moms), before cooking them up.

"This is gonna be fun," Amethyst assured Sugi over the dinner table (now cleared of everything breakable). "You know how to get the meat out of a crab?"

The girl shook her head. "Nuh-uh."

"Well, your mom's gonna teach you."

Garnet set the plate of crabs in the middle of the table, and handed her a wooden mallet. "Just like Grandma Ruby taught me."


	4. Malachite

Whenever the elegant beauty in the blue sundress dropped off a wild-haired nine-year-old at swim practice, there were stares. From dads and moms alike. She had moved into the neighborhood less than a year ago -- though some people swore they remembered her from back in the day, a high school star of the swim team -- or was it the dance team? -- or did she sing? -- well, it was _something_ elegant and powerful, that much was obvious.

Little Malachite took to the water like she lived there. Her hair was bleached almost white from spending so much time under the sunshine, then tinted green from all the chlorine. She swam like a fish. Could've been the star of the team.

She also had to be told, almost every week, to work on Playing Well With Others.

The parents whispered to each other about why.

"Troubled home life, that's the only reason a child would act out like this."

"I live right next to their house, and, ooh, the stories I could tell. So many nights I've heard yelling, crying . . . things being smashed! And the poor kid has to hear all that fighting. No wonder."

"You notice how the mom -- Lapis, right? -- never comes to the pool herself? I swear she used to be magic in the water, but now you never see her in a swimsuit, only those sundresses."

"You think she's been hurt?"

"I've seen Mala with the other mom at the grocery store. Big woman, all muscle, walks like she's ex-military . . . she could throw poor dainty Lapis around like a rag doll if she wanted to. I'm not saying she is, I'm just saying."

"Should we try to do something?"

"Should we talk to her?"

"Sounds to me like it's her own fault. If that relationship's so bad, why doesn't she just leave?"

"You don't know what it's like. Maybe there's money involved -- maybe it's about the kid -- maybe she's just been broken down so hard, she's forgotten she deserves better. Or, hell, maybe she's convinced that woman loves her, and that makes anything worth it. People get trapped in all kinds of ways. You don't know."

One day after practice, Malachite's name was called, not by Lapis's musical voice, but by a rough growl. She said goodbye to her friends (real friends! thought the coach. Funny what you could accomplish if you managed not to bite anyone for a whole month), and ran over to greet her mom, with a toothy grin and a punch in the bicep. All the other parents tried not to stare too obviously.

The woman had even bigger sun-bleached hair than her daughter's, and thigh muscles like barrels. It was easy to imagine her hurting someone. She ruffled Mala's tresses with tenderness, making the kid giggle, but anyone could have their sweet moments . . . .

While most of the adults stood in place and fretted, one dad stepped forward. "Excuse me, miss? Miss?" He reached for her wrist to get her attention -- it was too big for his hand to close around. "Excuse --"

The broad hand lashed out faster than anyone could see, shoving him backward.

"What?!" growled the woman, both hands balled into fists, teeth bared and pupils pinpricks in her orange eyes. "You want something?"

"No! Who, me? Nothing, nothing! I haven't seen you around before. I wanted to say hi. That's all, I swear!"

Malachite's mom narrowed her eyes, then harrumphed. She took her daughter's hand, and they left, without another word.

The parents would be whispering about that for months to come. Wasn't she scary? Those arms! That face! That violent, angry reaction over something as harmless as her wrist being grabbed! Even if she wasn't cruel to Malachite directly, it couldn't be healthy, growing up in a house like that. Poor Lapis. No wonder she felt trapped.


	5. Sardonyx

"What if she trips?" fretted Pearl, during the whole ride in the car she had only barely fixed up in time for a drive tonight. "What if the stage is badly made because of some underpaid construction worker slacking off on the job? What if her equipment malfunctions and one of the tricks doesn't work? What if everyone laughs, when it's not culturally appropriate for them to be laughing at that part of the show? What if there's a problem with her equipment _and_ everyone laughs _and_ she trips --"

"Pearl," interrupted Garnet, putting a hand on Pearl's arm to stop her as they reached the doors of the school auditorium. "It's going to be fine. Trust Sardonyx to figure it out."

The lights were still up in the auditorium, the seats half-full of parents waiting to clap for their kids' acts. Singing, dancing, showing off various other skills . . . Sardonyx had a whole mystery routine worked out, and she hadn't let either of her mothers watch her practice. Pearl had no idea what to expect.

She was prepared for disaster anyway, just because.

She and Garnet found seats just as the lights went down. A proudly talkative parent welcomed them all to the talent show.

The first few acts were underwhelming, in Pearl's opinion. A young boy did a song-and-dance to the tune of a top-40s hit she didn't recognize. Another boy did music mixing, using a series of video game controllers, which Pearl supposed called for some technical proficiency, though she didn't care much for the sound. A girl played a piece on her violin. Didn't any of these children have useful skills? If that girl was in a situation that called for self-defense, her violin bow wouldn't last a second.

At last, Sardonyx's name was announced. Garnet didn't move, but Pearl sat up straighter, hands clenched with anxiety.

There was a flash of orange light and smoke -- and Sardonyx _appeared_ in the middle of the stage. How exciting! And possibly hazardous! And, oh dear, what was she _wearing?_ Pearl's baby girl was not old enough to be dressed in sheer stockings under a thigh-high-cut bodysuit!

Even if she did seem to be, well . . . rocking it.

A whole series of magic tricks followed, with dramatic explanations from Sardonyx as she worked the crowd. She made objects vanish into thin air, produced a flashy hammer out of nowhere from behind her back, did a little sequence with a pie that Pearl did not entirely follow, but most of the audience loved.

There was a moment when she _did_ trip -- the audience gasped, Pearl went rigid, even Garnet held her breath -- but it turned out to be part of the routine. The crowd went wild.

"She was incredible!" gushed Pearl at the end, waiting after the show with other parents and their assorted bouquets of flowers. "I didn't know she could do any of that. Our little girl!"

Garnet was beaming, with just a touch of well-deserved smugness. "She's going places. I can see it already."

"And she's so _confident!_ " Pearl shook her head ruefully. "I can't imagine how. She must have gotten all of that from your side."

"Come on, now. You don't think she knew how to do any of those tricks on her first try, do you?"

"No . . . but I don't either, I certainly didn't _teach_ her . . . "

"And where do you think Sardonyx got the idea that she could dive into a completely new field, start off knowing nothing, and make herself an expert who has every right to be confident through the sheer force of hard work and determination?"

"Um," said Pearl, whose vehicle-maintenance business had only started to flourish a couple of years earlier, thanks to a VA scholarship and a whole lot of elbow grease. "I suppose . . . well . . . "

"I'm just saying." The stage door opened; Garnet caught sight of their daughter over the heads of the shorter parents, and waved for her to come join them. "It's you and me, Pearl. She gets it from both of us."


	6. Rainbow Quartz

When the kids' dance class was over, Pearl hovered at the edge of the studio, glued to her phone while Rainbow chatted with her friends. The bag over her shoulder held a netbook; once they got to the rec center playground, she would break that out too.

Some of the parents gave her Looks over her busy schedule, whispering that she was so attached to her devices she might as well have her own brain jacked into them. Pearl refused to apologize. Being a woman in the tech industry meant she had to work twice as hard to stay ahead, and being a single mother meant she couldn't afford to fall behind.

She looked up from her screen every once in a while, of course. If her daughter had been in any hurry to leave, things would be different. But Rainbow was fine -- she seemed to have bonded with another child a little younger than her, a cute girl in a little blue dress, and they didn't look ready to say their goodbyes any time soon.

Pearl's attention was so absorbed in her code, she didn't pay attention to the other parents going in and out beside her. A man came up almost right behind her, and she didn't even notice until he called, "All right, kiddo, c'mon down to the --"

Pearl whipped around with a startled _gleep!_ , eyes wide.

It was him, all right. Hair a little thinner on top, voice a little raspier than in his singing days, but he was the same Greg Universe, stuttering to a halt as he recognized her too.

"Gotta go," said the girl in blue, and skipped over to join them, curly hair bouncing. "Hi, Dad! Can we stay and hang out at the playground for a while? Rainbow says she always stays after class."

Not a girl at all, then. (Not unless new information had come up after Pearl had fallen out of touch.)

Rainbow trailed after him, in the tulle-and-leg-warmers combination that she was convinced was the height of fashion. "Is that your dad? Mom, do you guys know each other?"

"We, uh, used to," said Greg. "It was a long time ago."

The boy's eyes lit up, and, oh, now that she was looking Pearl could see so much of Rose in his excited smile. "This is great! You guys can hang out and have drinks and do grown-up catching up, and me and Rainbow can keep playing together! Can she come over some time? Can she?" To Rainbow, he added, "Ooh, you can bring your Cat Guy and finally let him try on the Apple Guy outfit!"

"I don't know, Steven," stammered Greg. "We might...live too far apart? How about if we talk it over while you two take on the jungle gym."

Pearl grudgingly admired his discretion.

They took the world's most awkward group walk through the rec center halls, until finally Steven and Rainbow could be shooed off into the maze of playground equipment. Neither parent wanted to look at the other. When the kids had disappeared into a bright yellow plastic tube, Greg cleared his throat and said, "Rainbow looks like she's growing up well."

"So does Steven," allowed Pearl. She was glad -- she never wanted any harm to come to Rose's other child -- even after . . . even though . . . "How much does he know?"

"I talk to him about his mom all the time. Show him pictures, video, everything. And he knows she also dated women -- I want him to know that's okay." He sounded way more self-conscious than he needed to, considering how obviously unbothered he was about his son running around in a skirt. "But, um, nothing about you specifically. Or your daughter. I figured if you hadn't reached out . . . well, I didn't want him to feel rejected."

Dammit, he was being so _reasonable_. "Rainbow knows you exist, but I don't think she recognized you." Which made sense -- Greg had only seen Rainbow in person a handful of times. Rose had been good enough not to parade around her new boyfriend in front of her ex and their toddler. "I have not told her about Steven. Are you going to?"

". . . if I can. If it's okay with you."

Pearl gritted her teeth, not liking what she had to admit: "Rose would have wanted the children to know each other."

"Well, Rose isn't _here_." Greg's voice caught on the word. "She can't figure this out, and she can't tell you what to do, and I'm asking what _you_ want."

There was a long pause, broken only by the creak of the swingset and the cries of seagulls from the direction of the bay.

"They seem to be getting along well enough," said Pearl at last. "We can let them have playdates. At public places . . . unless you can turn around all your photos of Rose without Steven noticing?" (Greg shook his head.) "Me neither. If they get to be really good friends, we can tell them the truth. Like a surprise present!" She let out a creaky, nervous laugh. "And if they have a falling-out, well, that'll just be a sign that it wasn't meant to be, right? We go our separate ways. No harm, no foul."

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

### . . . and Steven!

On the roof of the top tier of the playhouse, hidden from the adults by a giant grinning plastic head, Steven whispered under his breath, "Whaaaaaaat?!"

As quietly as possible, he climbed back to the level below, slid down the tongue-shaped slide, and found Rainbow still organizing mulch chips. (Rainbow was very proud of her organizational skills. Just like Mom.)

"Rainbow! I have a secret!" hissed Steven, kneeling down next to her. "Can you promise not to tell?"

"Okay . . . "

"No, I mean, a real, serious promise! Like we're in a secret club, and nobody who isn't in it can know." Fishing around in his pockets, he found a couple of coupons for the local pizza place. "These are membership cards. Don't take one unless you really mean it!"

Rainbow hesitated, seriously weighing the options, then took one and tucked it under the strap of her leotard. "I promise."

"I heard our parents talking, and . . . " Steven's eyes were getting wider and sparklier by the second. ". . . our other moms? They're the _same mom!_ That's why your last name and my middle name are the same! You're my _secret sister!_ "

Rainbow's mouth dropped open. Mom talked about Rose all the time, fleshing out her own blurry and fragmented memories of her other mother, but had never said anything about Rainbow having half-siblings out there. "No way. Why wouldn't they tell us?"

"I think maybe they had a fight?" Steven hesitated, face falling a little. "I think maybe . . . because Mom died having me . . . your mom might not have wanted to see me. And Dad sounded like he hid it from me because he wanted to protect me. But now that we've met on our own, and they can see that we're friends, they're not mad about it! So we have to keep being friends until they decide it doesn't have to be a secret -- and we have to remember to act surprised when they tell."

"So we don't hurt their feelings," agreed Rainbow. She got it. "But, Steven -- this is a _really big_ secret! We've gotta seal it with something more exciting than pizza coupons."

" . . . I liked the pizza coupons."

Ignoring his pout, Rainbow started feeling around in one of her legwarmers, where she kept certain special treasures (except when the dance teacher made her empty them out for class). "I got this. Let's see . . . what can I do for you . . . "

A T-shirt for Rocker Guy . . . a pretty piece of bismuth she got at the science museum . . . a cool leaf . . . aha! Triumphant, she produced two Ring Pops, strawberry-flavored candy jewels on bright pink rings, stil in the plastic.

Steven's eyes got all starry again when Rainbow, with a flourish, handed him one. "Only the best for my brother."

They unwrapped their candy together, then Steven made a fist and held up his hand. "Secret siblings?"

Rainbow sealed the toast with a fistbump, clicking their vivid pink gems together. "Secret siblings."

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, hands up, who suspected there were surprise Steven feels queued up for the end of this? (That's why, even though it put things a little out of order, Rainbow Quartz had to be the last chapter . . . )
> 
> If there are more fusions in the show I might write a sequel one day. Got some non-AU plotbunnies in mind in the meantime. And come be my friend on Tumblr, where I reblog a lot of SU and other pretty things: http://glassrain83.tumblr.com/


End file.
